What does "rc" stand for, and why are there so many
"rc" files?
The letters stand for Run-Com, the name of a command
file on early DEC operating systems. The Unix system's
original "rc" file was /etc/rc, which executes commands
when the system "boots" (or starts up). The name spread
to the C shell startup file .cshrc, the Mail startup
file .mailrc, the Berknet initialization file .netrc,
and the Netnews startup file .newsrc. Programmers could
have chosen a better suffix (such as init) but they
wanted to retain a realm of mystery in the system.
Related:
c file /R-C fi:l/ n.
[Unix: from `runcom files' on
the CTSS system 1962-63 via the startup script
/etc/rc] Script file containing startup instructions for an
application program (or an entire operating system), usually a text
file containing commands of the sort that might have been invoked
manually once the system was running but are to be executed
automatically each time the system starts up....